This year’s edition of the International documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) will open with the world premiere of “A Picture to Remember” by Olga Chernykh. The film, which received the support of the IDFA Bertha Fund in 2022, is a deeply personal account of the ongoing war in Ukraine and its violent history, seen through the prism of three generations of women.
The full program for the festival’s 36th edition was announced earlier today by IDFA’s artistic director Orwa Nyrabia, who stated the festival’s opening film is “both personal and political,” adding that “the director does not shy away from trying to build a cinematic world with fragile elements. The courage and originality of the film’s approach opens up to a much larger worldview.”
Before announcing this year’s full lineup, Nyrabia took a moment to acknowledge the current Israel-Hamas war: “To us, respecting the human pain starts from acknowledging that all these civilians being murdered in parts of the world are things we cannot just escape from or pass by silently. However, documentary filmmakers did tell us that this was coming, no matter how terrible, how atrocious, it is not a surprise. Preludes and introductions led to this, many films shown at IDFA over the past 36 years of the festival’s life told us that this would happen.”
The artistic director concluded his moving introduction by saying, “What IDFA does is to give space for serious and responsible debate. To give space to filmmakers to tell us how they see the world within their own subjective views and what they see for the future. I do believe that things would have been much better if we all listened. So let’s have a festival and try honoring all those who have been killed.”
Taking place in the Dutch capital between Nov. 8-19, this year’s edition will showcase over 250 titles. Out of 11 titles in its prestigious International Competition, nine are world or international premieres. Seventeen countries are represented in the selection, with stories from Gaza to Myanmar. World premieres include Elvis Ngaibino Sabin’s “The Burden,” In-Soo Radstake’s “Selling a Colonial War” and Midi Z’s “The Clinic.”
The festival’s Envision Competition, the strand dedicated to films that “champion the craft and innovation of filmmaking,” has selected 12 films from visionary filmmakers forging new cinematic languages. The selection includes the world premieres of Yaser Kassab’s “Chasing the Dazzling Light,” Ariel Kuaray Ortega and Ernesto de Carvalho’s “Canuto’s Transformation” and Ilya Povolotsky’s “Mud,” plus the festival’s opening film, which also plays in competition.
IDFA’s New Media Program, exploring the art of interactive and immersive non-fiction, DocLab, will host two competitive strands in IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction and IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling. While the former looks for works that “boldly expand the genre’s horizons,” including multi-sensory experiences, live performances, artistic VR creations and immersive installations, the latter focuses on works that “build on the rich history of interactive storytelling.” DocLab also hosts a non-competitive strand, IDFA DocLab Spotlight.
The festival had previously announced several sections of its program, including its Best of Fests selection, and the titles within the Signed, Frontlight and Luminous strands. This year will see two Focus programs: Fabrications, which “examines the way that documentary film plays with reality”; and 16 Worlds on 16, celebrating the 100th anniversary of 16mm film.
This year’s Guest of Honor is director Wang Bing, who has curated a program of all Chinese films for his Top 10 selection. The Lifetime Achievement Award will go to British director and screenwriter Peter Greenaway, who is also the subject of a retrospective at this year’s festival.
You can access the full IDFA lineuphere.
Here is the competition lineup announced today:
Selected films: International Competition
• 1489, dir. Shoghakat Vardanyan (Armenia), 76’ – World Premiere
• As the Tide Comes In, dir. Juan Palacios (Denmark), 89’ – International Premiere
• The Burden, dir. Elvis Ngaibino Sabin (Central African Republic/France/Democratic Republic of the Congo/Italy), 80’ – World Premiere
• The Clinic, dir. Midi Z (Taiwan/Myanmar), 87’ – World Premiere
• Danger Zone, dir. Vita Maria Drygas (Poland/United Kingdom), 93’ – International Premiere
• Flickering Lights, dir. Anirban Dutta, Anupama Srinivasan (India), 90’ – European Premiere
• The Last, dir. Sebastian Peña-Escobar (Paraguay/Uruguay/France), 87’ – World Premiere
• Life Is Beautiful, dir. Mohamed Jabaly (Norway/Palestine), 90’ – World Premiere
• Limitation, dir. Elene Asatiani, Soso Dumbadze (Georgia), 125’ – World Premiere
• Selling a Colonial War, dir. In-Soo Radstake (Netherlands), 133’ – World Premiere
• The World Is Family, dir. Anand Patwardhan (India), 96’ – European Premiere
Selected films: Envision Competition
• La cancha, dir. Mustafa Uzuner (Canada), 54’ – World Premiere
• Canuto’s Transformation, dir. Ariel Kuaray Ortega, Ernesto de Carvalho (Brazil), 130’ – World Premiere
• Chasing the Dazzling Light, dir. Yaser Kassab (Syria/Qatar/Sweden), 63’ – World Premiere
• Damnatio Memoriae, dir. Thunska Pansisvorakul (Thailand/Germany), 108’ – European Premiere
• GAMA, dir. Kaori Oda (Japan), 53’ – International Premiere
• Mud, dir. Ilya Povolotsky (Russia), 50’ – World Premiere
• Paragate, dir. Jialai Wang (Belgium), 72’ – World Premiere
• A Picture to Remember, dir. Olga Chernykh (Ukraine/France/Germany), 72’ – World Premiere
• Silence of Reason, dir. Kumjana Novakova (North Macedonia/Bosnia-Herzegovina), 63’ – International Premiere
• Tales of Oblivion, dir. Dulce Fernandes (Portugal), 63’ – World Premiere
• Thermodielectric, dir. Ana Costa Ribeiro (Brazil), 72’ – International Premiere
• The Wasp and the Orchid, dir. Saber Zammouri (Tunisia), 66’ – World Premiere
